Paid Survey articles

Guess what? You can put some extra cash in your pocket by completing online surveys! It’s a free, fun and an easy way to pay for a tank of gas or two per month, all for just giving your opinion. If you do even a small amount of Internet surfing, you will likely find banner ads or affiliate links to survey sites claiming you could make money, up to several hundred dollars an hour.

The fact of the matter is that the hundred-plus figure quoted in many advertisements about online surveys is a farce. That’s right – most of those claims are a bunch of hooey and are a way to entice those people desperate for a work at home job to shell out hard earned cash. Wait a second … that sounds like you are paying for the privilege of taking a survey, doesn’t it? The “catch” to earning that mythical hundred-plus dollar figure for a survey is that you must pay a membership fee in order to have access to a database of these survey companies.

People led by their desire to make money from home fall for this scam every day. What these scammers do not tell you about completing online surveys is that they do not send the surveys to you. Rather, in order to start making money, you have to apply to as many survey companies in their database as possible in the hopes that you might qualify to participate in some of them. Another thing that these survey database scammers don’t do is update the databases. Sometimes you are paying for outdated information.

Now that you have an idea about the scammers and how they operate, you should know that there are a lot of legitimate companies out there that offer you a way to make money completing online surveys. And yes, there are those rare instances where that mythical hundred dollar plus dollar figure is real. However, those opportunities are few and far between. The reality of completing these surveys is that you can expect the average payout to be anywhere from one dollar to twenty dollars each.

In order to find these genuine opportunities and have some fun making a few bucks, all you have to do is conduct an Internet search using one of the search engines. Your search will yield thousands of possible hits. In order to know whether an online survey company is legit, read through their website. If they do not ask for money, then that is a major step in the legitimacy department.

How Online Surveys Basically Work

Have you ever wondered why the opportunity to make money completing online surveys is such a popular trend these days? From your standpoint, the reason could be because of rising gas prices or the cost of living going up. It could be because of salaries not quite catching up with the market, thus necessitating the need for supplemental income. There are a host of reasons why the online survey trend is hot right now.

From a company view, having consumers completing surveys online saves millions of advertising dollars. By finding out what the consumers like and dislike, a company knows where to focus its advertising budget. They can save a ton of money by hiring a market research company to do all the “dirty” work in determining how receptive the public might be to a new product line or understand the perspective of the consumer on certain topics or events.

To make money with these surveys, the key is to sign up for as many market research and survey companies as possible. Each of them will have you fill out a questionnaire with some basic information like where you live, how old you are, how many children are in the household and even your level of education. Other parts of the questionnaire might ask your religious or ethnic background. Your habits, hobbies and other pertinent demographic information are often asked as well.

It is important to fill out as much information as possible for each survey company you are interested in joining. The reason for providing as much information as possible is because the companies use it to screen their database for potential candidates for surveys. The more information you provide the higher the likelihood that you will receive an email asking you to participate in a survey.

Questions asked on surveys can be just about anything. You might make money by completing a survey about laundry detergent or giving your thoughts on movie trailers or your favorite brand of microwave popcorn. Just think – your opinion could shape the way a company markets a product!

Tips on Making the Most of your Online Survey Experience

There are a few things that might make your online survey experience more enjoyable. First, make it easy on yourself and find a free Internet directory with the hottest listings of survey companies. Why pay for the cost of a membership when you can get the information for free?

Please be aware that most of the legitimate market research companies offering these surveys will not sell your personal information, but still, it does happen. Therefore, you should expect an increased amount of spam in your email box. If you don’t want your email inbox to be cluttered with junk, create a new email account using one of those free email services. Have all survey correspondence go to that free account.

Carve out a set time each day to check your email and filter through survey invitations. The beauty of it all is that you can pick and choose not only which online surveys to participate in but also the time in which to finish the survey. That means completing an online survey at 1:00 a.m. is possible!

Making a little extra money from online surveys is easy and can be a lot of fun. Just remember, you have the power to pick and choose which surveys to take once they start appearing in your email inbox. You are not obligated to complete each one. That is what is so cool about these surveys – you have total control!

*This article was written by Rob Johnson 28/06/2006, Rob has been successfully taking online and offline Paid Surveys in Australia for over 2 years and is also the webmaster of http://www.australianfreepaidsurveys.com, a free frequently updated list of over 200 Paid Survey companies available to Australians.